Manchester United's trip to Leicaster ended in an embarassing 5-3 defeat to promoted side Leicaster City. Falcao contributed early with an assist to Robin Van Persie for the header. Couple of minutes later, it was Wayne Rooney who put in a beautiful ball to Angel Di Maria for a nice lob over the out stretch arms of Kasper Schmeichel. Moments after, Leicaster equalised with a cross in for a header as Marcos Rojo was beat, while Jonny Evans and Tyler Blackett were caught ball Watching.
The Second half rolled around, Ander Herrera extended United's lead, by tucking in a lovely back heel from Di Maria's low hard strike. United's back 4 were constantly being beat by Leicaster's physicality and rarely got in to clear the ball. Rafael was nudged, then being called for a foul and the referee had given a penalty to Leicaster, which made it 3-2. Later on, it was a bad clearance from Tyler Blackett that led to Leicaster City scoring their 3rd goal of the match. Soon after, it was a slip from Daley Blind, again caused by the physicality of Leicaster which led to the counter attack and a goal to put Leicaster in front 4-3. In the 83rd minute, United were caught on the counter attack once again and Tyler Blacket went in for a challenge in the penalty area which got him sent off. Leicaster scored the penalty and it was 5-3.
United were struggling with long balls all day long, barely able to win any headers. Evans and Blackett were too weak when matched up against Leicaster. For the match against West Ham, it would be a good idea for Van Gaal to Put Rojo at Centre Back. Rojo is taller and more physical. Luke Shaw's debut would be expected next week at Old Trafford.
Louis Van Gaal's choice of substitutions were also suspect today. He took Falcao off, who was doing a decent job, and brought on Januzaj, who was struggling with Leicaster's physicality. Di Maria was also subbed off later on, which is a complete head scratcher because without Di Maria, United's attack looked lost in the woods. Louis Van Gaal brought on Juan Mata, who unfortunately had no runners to pass to.
Van Persie should have been the striker being subbed off, putting Rooney back up to next to Falcao and putting Mata on to play the no. 10 role. Unfortunately, I did not think that Januzaj should have came on, I thought Luke Shaw should have replaced Tyler Blackett whould had been struggling with Leicaster's Physicality. Putting Rojo at left centre back nect to Smalling and putting Shaw at the fullback position. The Pairing of Smalling and Rojo would be half decent in the air, I didn't think Tyler Backett won any headers today, that is a huge concern. United are desperate for Phil Jones to return from injury.
Manchester United's Centre back loopholes are starting to surface with physicality. There is no question the Premier League is the most physical among all the leagues in world football. United need an extra physical Centre back who is good in the air, potential targets might be Borussia Dortmund's Mats Hummels or Aston Villa's Ron Vlarr, who had a sensational World Cup for Louis Van Gaal's side and would take charge of the defense of Manchester United.
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